SONCOZ SGP1 Stereo Amplifier Review

[Bleib]

No way, that thing looks better than this?

There is a reason why North American and European brands cost more, because they actually invest in proper industrial design.

View attachment 309093

Yeah, that one looks a boring in the front, although it's better than this, which is basically a non-design as if nobody actually even worked on it

 

[CleanSound]

That's the thing actually. They never die. That's why brands like McIntosh, Accuphase etc use giant, super high quality and very costly transformers.

You also can have huge dynamic capability by choosing your linear supply correctly.

I don't know what the source of all of these hate on the traditional, standard bearer HiFi technologies like linear power supplies and Class AB.

I suspect because recent breakthroughs in SMPS and Class D and that they are cost effective so all of a sudden hate is birth and somehow the traditional, standard bearer HiFi technologies are considered outdated and antiqued.

Linear power supplies has its own advantages, it all comes down to proper design.

 

[CleanSound]

Yeah, that one looks a boring in the front, although it's better than this, which is basically a non-design as if nobody actually even worked on it

View attachment 309095

No way. . .that Soncoz amp is in an obscure width instead of the standard 430mm and it has this inscribed on the UV meter: "The Power of Original Sound"

WTH does that even mean? It's so cheesy, so gaudy, so tacky. As if this brand have some kind of history and that is their motto or something.

Though, I can't deny that the inside does look damn good.

 

[Bleib]

No way. . .that Soncoz amp is in an obscure width instead of the standard 430mm and it has this inscribed on the UV meter: "The Power of Original Sound"

WTH does that even mean? It's so cheesy, so gaudy, so tacky. As if this brand have some kind of history and that is their motto or something.

Though, I can't deny that the inside does look damn good.

Eh, that it's a transparent sounding device? Well, for me it looks a lot better than both the NAD amps we've seen

And video
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/soncoz-sgp1.29136/#post-1119036
Looks nice, but more worrisome is reading the topic on how two who have purchased it here on ASR have one dead channel

 

[restorer-john]

No way, that thing looks better than this?

Dead right. They need to go back to the design board and clean it up.

They've clearly tried to copy the basic look of the Benchmark AHB-2, and even some old Hafler designs, but they've missed the mark.

Look at how they label their meters with this text "The Power of Original Sound" WTF were they thinking? Put your silly tagline on a clear sticker if you must- like the Japanese* did so people can peel it off. It just looks glaringly cheap and goes a long way to ruining the look of what is otherwise a very nicely constructed product.

The meter markings are weirdly linearly spaced. All power meters have been log forever.
Mark the meter with the reference impedance! The are obviously using 4 ohms as it doesn't do 200W at 8 ohms. Write it on the meter...
What are the horizontal arrows all about- get rid of them!
And these other markings either side of the dB scale- they look stupid.
Label the power switch with "Power" not the LED with PWR. The shortened capitalized markings look cheap. Go with capital and lower case word like the "Left" and "Right" on the meter above.
OUT L and OUT R? You don't need it. Make it Clip or Clip/Fault so it is off, not default lit up. Again, this is basic chit.

Here's how a power meter is done properly (log markings, 10dB jumps until around 0dB with +/-3dB points).

*Sony used to put "It's a Sony" on everything HiFi back in the day. Their longest running tagline. But the stickers were designed to easily come off...

 

[restorer-john]

No way. . .that Soncoz amp is in an obscure width instead of the standard 430mm and it has this inscribed on the UV meter: "The Power of Original Sound"

WTH does that even mean? It's so cheesy, so gaudy, so tacky.

I was typing the same thing!

 

[restorer-john]

Here's another few examples on how to do meters well:

Hopefully Soncoz will take some of this on board and fix up that front panel. It will help them sell a whole lot more amplifiers. They can send me one as my reward for helping out.

 

[respice finem]

Very competitive power amp IMHO.
As for the meters, I like them less baroque, so to speak - like those in some old (and recent) Technics or Yamaha power amps.
Another little criticism - though some may like it - black screws on a silver fascia look to me like they had run out of the silver ones

https://linsoul.de/cdn/shop/products/SGP1_d692a6ee-9d44-4d54-866a-fff19f4d46cb.png?v=1675714231

 

[KenA]

I say awesome performance at an awesome price, and really decent power.

I do like VU meters for sure, but I must agree these are not visually great. As for the overall look, it’s a ho-hum from me, but at least it’s not boring.

 

[TonyJZX]

would have been better off scrapping the VUs and spending that budget on QA... hell i would be ok with Yamaha's foil covered plastic

the problem will be that if you have a slew of early dire QA issues then its hard to recover from that initial impression... ask Topping about that... they've done it a few times

 

[dogmamann]

Topping la90 is still the one to beat and it costs less than this.

 

[Bleib]

Topping la90 is still the one to beat and it costs less than this.

Obvious power difference though...

 

[voodooless]

Dead right. They need to go back to the design board and clean it up.

They've clearly tried to copy the basic look of the Benchmark AHB-2, and even some old Hafler designs, but they've missed the mark.

View attachment 309094

Look at how they label their meters with this text "The Power of Original Sound" WTF were they thinking? Put your silly tagline on a clear sticker if you must- like the Japanese* did so people can peel it off. It just looks glaringly cheap and goes a long way to ruining the look of what is otherwise a very nicely constructed product.
View attachment 309098
The meter markings are weirdly linearly spaced. All power meters have been log forever.
Mark the meter with the reference impedance! The are obviously using 4 ohms as it doesn't do 200W at 8 ohms. Write it on the meter...
What are the horizontal arrows all about- get rid of them!
And these other markings either side of the dB scale- they look stupid.
Label the power switch with "Power" not the LED with PWR. The shortened capitalized markings look cheap. Go with capital and lower case word like the "Left" and "Right" on the meter above.
OUT L and OUT R? You don't need it. Make it Clip or Clip/Fault so it is off, not default lit up. Again, this is basic chit.

Here's how a power meter is done properly (log markings, 10dB jumps until around 0dB with +/-3dB points).
View attachment 309099

*Sony used to put "It's a Sony" on everything HiFi back in the day. Their longest running tagline. But the stickers were designed to easily come off...

A lot of times, Chinese copies of western stuff is like from a cargo cult

 

[Baki]

No way, that thing looks better than this?

There is a reason why North American and European brands cost more, because they actually invest in proper industrial design.

This black front is entirely made out of cheap plastic. Like in my M33 as well. But you get a big chunk of useless aluminum remote control in return.

 

[silver12]

Interested, how will this compare with NAD C268, C298...?

 

[voodooless]

Interested, how will this compare with NAD C268, C298...?

SINDAD-wise, this will do better than these NADs. They use older generation Hypex UcD Class-D modules. They have about a 90 SINAD at best, but only at around 100mW. above that, it rises quite a bit. If you could actually hear the difference is another story. Also, the UcD modules are stable at 2R, not sure how well this one will do.

 

[Mnyb]

Nice amp besides the exterior design flaws in the VU's as noted they might need a professional industrial designer for the cosmetics .

No bridging ? That makes some sense lets keep it simple and reliable .

But then , is there going to a bigger amp or mono blocks ?

Nice to see that they decide to compete in the 100W ish amp tier (aprox 200w 4 ohms ) as power is the most important spec in power amps , this makes it usable and versatile in more situations

 

[restorer-john]

would have been better off scrapping the VUs and spending that budget on QA... hell i would be ok with Yamaha's foil covered plastic

the problem will be that if you have a slew of early dire QA issues then its hard to recover from that initial impression... ask Topping about that... they've done it a few times

The standard of construction and care in the design suggests to me, they are wanting to be a serious player with this amplifier. If they can get the meter/front panel aesthetics fixed, I think it will be a big seller.

There's been enough warnings about Topping's failures across numerous products, that I have zero sympathy left for either the brand or the people silly enough to burn their money on their products.

I wish Soncoz all the best and I hope it brings more audiophiles back to the superior reliability and excellent fidelity of Class AB amplifiers.

 

[fordiebianco]

A lot of times, Chinese copies of western stuff is like from a caro cult

'cargo'

 

[GianDi]

Linear power supplies has its own advantages, it all comes down to proper design.

No hate, love for better music reproduction for all of us, thanks to tech evolution.

Do you think a 100W class A amplifier will be available at chinese prices?